One of America’s fastest-growing arts subcultures is continuing its scene along Myrtle Avenue in a series of Sunday Brooklyn Urban Arts Markets this summer.
The scene is called Afro-Punk and its recent weeklong festival of film, concerts and a temporary skate park at BAM drew thousands of Afro-Punksters from around the country.
The Urban Arts Market, which takes place from noon to 7 p.m. along Myrtle Avenue between Emerson Place and Grand Avenue, will combine local merchants setting up tables with Afro-Punk themed live music.
Michael Blaise Backer, executive director of MARP as well as Myrtle Avenue’s Business Improvement District (BID), said the event is a mix of the thriving urban markets common in many cities and the mellow vibe of a neighborhood block party.
The open-air market will feature live music, visual art performances, food from Myrtle restaurants, and about 50 local, primarily home-based artisans, vendors, and entrepreneurs selling fashion, art, accessories and more, he said.
“The Fort Greene and Clinton Hill neighborhoods have a large concentration of people who run their businesses from their homes, or who are in the process of starting up a new creative venture in their free time,” said Backer.
“With rising retail rents throughout the neighborhood, we felt that the market concept was the best way to help new entrepreneurs to grow and reach a larger audience,” he added.
Backer said the longer-term goal is to build a growing roster of local independent businesses that could eventually expand into Myrtle Avenue retail space as it becomes available.
It will also help build a successful market event on Myrtle Avenue that will become a destination and increase foot traffic for existing merchants.
In regard to the music, Afro-Punk has curated a musical line-up that fuses underground sounds with old-school favorites.
Upcoming Markets will feature legends and local favorites like Afrika Baambaata, Slick Rick, Rich Medina and Bobbito Garcia.
Upcoming Sunday Urban Arts Markets are slated for August 10, August 24, September 7 and September 21.
For more information on the market, contact Meredith Phillips Almeida at the MARP at 230-1689 or emailing her at Meredith@myrtleavenue.org
Other contacts are Matthew Morgan from Afro Punk, who can be reached at 646-642-1909, and Tamara McCaw from the Brooklyn Academy of Music who can be reached at 636-4129, extension 5.
